Chris Head
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Posts posted by Chris Head
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I'm afraid I side with Penny here, we researched and were not impressed with either the costs (boy were they big!) involved or the lack of professionalism offered to us. In the end we decided to remove ourselves, luckily I have a van I need for my work and did it all ourselves, saved alot and bought some great memories!
Chris
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Be creative Chrissie! If you've got to look at it all the time, what would you rather see, concrete slabs and pre fab covering or something you designed and created yourself? Think along the lines of Oak posts with a raised 'decked' type of base, perhaps with a couple of levels which would allow you to rotate the firewood efficiently and increase drying efficiency. Maybe a shingled roof extended almost to the ground where you could store kindling or garden tools, bore some large holes in the Oak posts and pack them with bird feed and sit and wait with your camera to capture a passing woodpecker.....carve the poles into totem or tiki subjects, anything goes Chrissie!
Chris
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Thanks Bob & Helen, the tomettes I've used so far came from a bread oven, you're right about the fragility of them, laying them is fun! I wouldn't buy any without looking at each one which is why I was hoping there might be some locally. I want to mix Oak flooring with tomettes but they look so good down that we thought we'd try and find some more. Either way you can't really go wrong as long as you stick to natural materials in a renovation!
Chris
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Has anyone got any Tomettes (16cmx16cm)they want to sell in the Creuse departement, or perhaps Haute Vienne or at a stretch Allier?
Chris
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The pros and cons are always seem to add up to catch 22 Val! I'm not into chasing money but high insurances and social charges have to be passed on to the client which immediately puts me in a position where I have to charge more than I really want to. Luckily we've been 'befriended' by a particular advisor at the Chamb de Met who is steering us!
Chris
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We've been here for a year or so now and the UK contracts I had when we left were enough to sustain us for at least a year without taking new business into account. I was grateful for the leeway as I wanted to choose how to register here, knowing the problems that would come....and I was right! I'm a chainsaw carver and also create interiors using Oak and the first time at the Chambre de Metiers the lady actually said to me that she would have to check with the house of artists in Paris to see if my occupation was a recognised one (boy did she have an ego on her!), well....after a few choice words from me and my wife kicking me alot under the table I think she fully understood I didn't give a damn what she or anyone else thought about my chosen occupation (we got a call a few days later saying that we were perfectly entitled to trade in France and would be classed either as Artisans or artists, the choice was ours, self employment in the UK for ten years helped alot).
I personally wouldn't have worked here without becoming 100% legit, the risks are just not worth it, and for anyone looking in for the first time, please don't be disillusioned about the complexities of the system. The chambre de metiers will answer your questions but won't tell you how to play the system...unless you ask the relevant question pertaining to your situation! If you love what you do, how can you do it when you're looking over your shoulder all the time or waiting for the call making an appointment to come and inspect you?
Good luck!
Chris ([email protected]) if I can help anyone.
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Can't help with the sawbench Dave, I keep my power tools to a minimum, I like to retain as much contact with the Oak as I can (although I go for the best chainsaws I can for my carving!). Bob C seems to have a good knowledge of what machinery is available here and where to get it. Good luck.
Chris
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It's fantastic to see the response you've had Dave, I like your style of furniture very much. Pricing is a very difficult one, we've come out here to get away from the chasing money thing but at the end of the day I guess we all have to pay bills and social charges! As with most hand produced work, if you were to charge by the hour you'd never make a living! I too work with wood, albeit in a different way and we've had a similar response in the Creuse area where we live from British and French, mostly by word of mouth. I think that if you're producing something by hand that is of very good quality, different and well priced then you should be just fine. My last order the other day was from a local chap who saw a just completed door (3 inch thick including ledges & braces and around 50 kilos in weight!) who ordered 6, plus suitable frames on the spot! In the UK the pricing would have been easy but here I'm having difficulty, simply because I'm not into making masses of money and want to enjoy the work and not the dosh! Let us know how you get on Dave.
Chris
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Mike you've touched on a very large subject, us Brits are cashing in on the French and the French are reciprocating. One hopes that it will level out when the dust has all settled!
Chris
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I've finally found the method and the mix that blends in well with old stonework. 1 white cement to 1 lime to 7 of sifted sand, not too wet, left to dry properly then sealed with 50:50 matt varnish & white spirit (for internal walls).
Chris
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Hi Anna, you've got several options in varying scales of cost and mess! If the room is a shell then hiring a pressure washer might be an option, sand blasting is effective. A rotary wire brush mounted directly onto the spindle of a small (125mm) angle grinder is particularly effective, but wear a respirator/dust mask. Laissive(sp?) de sud is a powerful caustic solution (don't let it touch your skin, it burns) and can be bought cheaply from most quincaillerie, slap it on leave it to soak then scrub it off with lots of water with a dash of washing up liquid.
Alternatively, how about a coat of red gloss?
Salut, Chris
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It's a shame that so many old properties were treated in the way you describe Carole but that was just the fashion of the day I guess, just as we're ripping it all out again and taking it back to our interpretation of what it would have been. I have great respect for the materials and workmanship of yesteryear, the time and patience they had and the results they produced, one of the reasons for being here is to have the time to carry out projects like the fireplace without having to worry about churning out the same old work to pay bills that would take you over if you let them!
The Oak I use for projects like this is always green, for many reasons but mainly because you simply cant get dried Oak of that size section, it's easy to work green, and I want it to split and move, I'd be very disappointed if it didn't!
Thanks for your kind words!
Chris
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Thanks Carole, perhaps it's easier if I put the link to photobucket here http://photobucket.com/albums/v609/chrishead/ and give the password...which is, France (original eh?).
The fire surround has been oiled and had its pegs holding the mortice &tennons added.
Excuse the confusion!
Chris
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Oh, that's a shame, they're loud and clear on my screen. Does right clicking on the box and 'show image', work? I'll have a go at that David but I think it's beyond me.
Chris H
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Oh sod it, why not! My wifes away, my Rolph cd is trashed and I'm bored so here's some more pictures of the process!
First one is cleaning the log prior to marking it, even a speck of dirt will affect the sharpness of the chains and can reveal hidden hazards, such as stones or nails which could be very dangerous if hit by a chain travelling at around 20 metres per second. The tool is similar to an adze, with a straight edge and very sharp.
Having spent a good time marking the log out it's time to get stuck in! Note the size of log required to extract the desired mantlepiece. There's alot of waste, this particular is lovely! You can also see that I'm wearing the best protective chainsaw clothing, boots and headgear that money can buy....very important! The saw is very powerful at this stage, 100cc and tuned, I 'doctor' my own chains according to their use as well.
The log having been cut, it's now inside and having the mortices chainsawed into it (lightweight chainsaw trousers underneath the dpm's by the way!) using an electric saw.....
These pictures will be added to my website with some other work early spring next year.
Hope I'm giving some of you ideas!
Chris Head
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Ok Frenchy, here goes! The explanation could get a bit lengthy, I hope I don't bore anyone to death! I hope this isn't seen as advertising!
All of my 'architechtural' Oak is cut freehand by chainsaws, the only reason I do this is because (in my opinion) large section Oak that is perfectly straight and square can never have that feel or look of 'hand' worked timbers. After cutting I then texture it (the photo's don't really show the texturing) and shape out any straight lines or hard edges. The mortice and tennons are then cut, all by chainsaw, and then 'shaved' until they fit.
This picture is the fire surround in place before fuming.
And now with the plastic surround in place, as many gaps as possible have been taped up and the chimney has been blocked with polystyrene, the better the seal the more efficiently the ammonia fumes work.
And now after the fuming process.........
Now I'll apply several coats of Danish oil, thinned 50:50 with white spirit (there are several reasons for this but that's perhaps another subject). The fuming of this project took about 9 hours, the shade being checked often. The oiling will darken the timber down a little more. The fire surround will now be blended to the walls behind with granite masonry.
Below is a support post for the same client, this time a darker shade was required.
The same process will be used for the oak floorboards, but they'll be fumed outside of the house and to a much lighter shade.
The fuming process only works effectively with timber that has a high content of tannic acid, Oak and Sweet Chestnut are the two main candidates.
I've pictures of the cutting and joining process at the risk of boring y'all to death!
Any help I can give then fire away!
Salut, Chris
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Fuming Oak is a traditional way to 'taint' new timbers and blend them into old surroundings. I use ammonia and either fume in situ or prior to installing. I've just completed a huge fire surround for a client and it's been fumed in situ (having first been enclosed with plastic sheeting). The beauty of the process is that it's easily controllable, when you have the desired colour you simply remove the ammonia, and it's cheap, less than 2 euros for a litre of about 28% which is strong enough for most applications. But be careful, the fumes are unpleasant so either wear a respiratior or fume in a well ventilated workshop/barn.
If anyone wants any pictures then let me know,
Cheers, Chris Head
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I've been a pro chainsaw user for more than ten years, chainsaws are very much safer (in my humble opinion) than some woodworking machinery. Any machine user should develop safe working habits from the outset, like putting on a seatbelt before you drive or donning protective equipment before starting a chainsaw.
Chris
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I'm sure there must be some Rolph fans out there who'd come out of the closet? Thanks Helen, my wife thinks the same, although she'd have preferred the bagpipe cd to have copped it!
Chris
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My Rolph Harris CD (and the walkman!) just got broken into a few pieces by a large offcut from a hawk I was carving, has anyone got a copy they could burn and post? I'm happy to pay of course!
Thanks, Chris Head
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Thanks for the links Bob, at HM Diff's prices perhaps I should sell to them? I currently pay 25euro ttc from the UK for 5 litres as opposed to 128euro from HM, danish and tung oil are great oils if you take the time to build up coats.
Chris Head
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We're just down the road from you and I have a transit, call or email if I can help. 05 55 62 02 78 [email protected]
Regards, Chris Head
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Anyone out there found a supply for Danish Oil? Not the 500ml tins that cost a bomb but bulk suppliers? I'm down to my last 25 litres and panicking a bit!
Cheers, Chris Head
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Thanks for the advice all, I venture into metropolis today....I know what to look for now!
Regards, Chris Head
Building a wood store
in House Renovations
Posted
You don't know you can't until you try Chrissie! Wish I did have time to spare, Junes my next free time! In fact I'm considering running training courses to show the techniques and tools used to create structures such as the one you suggest and the fire surround Dave mentioned, if we can get our heads around the liability stuff!
Chris